Recording tradition with Derya Yildirim, Yousra Mansour, Hasan Nakhleh and Merve Erdem

A very exciting show this week, featuring the best artists from west Asia and north Africa. Turkish singer and saz player Derya Yildirim from Grup Simsek chats to Yousra Mansour, Hasan Nakhleh and Merve Erdem about how they work in the studio, what their songs tell us about tradition, and their biggest inspirations in the development of their work. A very exciting show this week featuring the best artists from west Asia and north Africa. Yousra Mansour is a Moroccan guembri player and lead vocalist of Moroccan-French quartet, Bab L’ Bluz. They’re now at the forefront of the new wave of women fronting Gnawa bands. Merve Erdem is a Turkish multi-disciplinary artist, born in Istanbul and now based in London. She writes, sings and produces multi-media visuals for her group Kit Sabastian, who last year released their debut album Matra Moderne. And finally, Hasan Nakhleh is a keyboardist and guitarist who’s one half of Tootard, a band comprised of brothers from the Golan Heights. The band are described as “unleash[ing] a disco whirlwind that pays homage to the Middle Eastern dancefloor scenes of the 1980s”.